44 BCBusiness January 2015
13 Port coquitlam
14 Delta
15 maPle riDge
16 Victoria
17 kelowna
18 aBBotSForD-miSSion
19 chilliwack
20 cranBrook
21 nanaimo
22 kamlooPS
23 courtenay
24 Salmon arm
ciTY rank
Exploring the
growing appeal of
B.C.'s second cities
b y t r e v o r M e l a n s o n
The middle
Ground
W
hen it comes to where you
live, the choice needn't
be all or nothing: big,
expensive cit y or
small town with reasonable
real estate prices. Beneath
the skyscrapers and beyond
the farms, there are the Victo-
rias and Kelownas—cities that,
while not international hubs,
still have diverse job markets and no
shortage of quaint cafés and cool bars.
They also rank quite well, according
to our list: Victoria is No. 16, Kelowna,
No. 17, with the Fraser Valley cities of
Abbotsford-Mission and Chilliwack
taking spots 18 and 19.
Consider our capital. Government
gigs are what Victoria is known for, but
that's just one slice of the job market.
According to a report released by the
Victoria Advanced Technology Coun-
cil last September, Victoria's local tech
sector pumps $4 billion—yes, billion—
into the region's economy annually,
the combined impact of nearly 900
local tech firms. Then there's
tourism, adding over $1 bil-
lion, and education: the Uni-
versity of Victoria, which
employs and enrolls roughly
30,000 students and staff,
was ranked Canada's second-
best comprehensive university
by Maclean's last fall.
While Victoria may not have all
the big-city trappings of Vancouver,
it's quickly acquiring some similar
big-city problems—including income
niK west
